As the rapid development of the Internet and e-business technologies, business activities are increasingly conducted over the net. Face-to-face business transactions are being replaced with online transactions, which do not need the two sides to meet with each other actually. Government departments also apply the technologies to improve their working efficiency. To secure the information transmitted over the network, authentication means for its users must be taken into account. Access to the critical data is allowed only when the user has been authenticated.
In the prior art, the security token is used to store critical data and is connected to a host for authenticating. The user must enter a preset password through the host to enable the host to read the data stored on the security token. But the password is a simple string of characters which is easy to be guessed and cracked.
To increase security of the security token, a fingerprint authentication unit is added to the security token. The user must be authenticated for fingerprint before the critical data stored on the token can be accessed.
Referring to FIG. 1, it's a flow chart for the prior art. The procedure of increasing security of the security token comprises the following steps:
101. First, store fingerprints of all potential users on the security token, which are sorted by the user ID;
102. The user enters fingerprint information through the fingerprint authentication unit along with the ID;
103. The fingerprint authentication unit retrieves the fingerprint with the ID, and collates the fingerprint with the entered fingerprint;
104. If the two fingerprints are identical, the user's identity is valid; the fingerprint authentication unit sends confirmation to the security token;
105. After receiving the confirmation, the security token allows the host to access its data.
However, the fingerprint could be reproduced using biological technology, and can be concealed in latex, so that reliability and security of the security token is compromised.